The Annapolis Junction
Bob Sprague's model railroad and track planning services
AN HO SCALE MODEL RAILROAD BASED ON THE B&O/CHESSIE AT ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION, MARYLAND
ABOUT THE ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION
MODELING THE ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION
THE OWNER
Annapolis Junction was the site of the junction between the Annapolis and Elk Ridge Railroad and the Baltimore & Ohio's Washington Branch.
Lying approximately halfway between Baltimore and Washington, DC, the Annapolis Junction area today features CSX's busy north-south main line, a small yard at Jessup, MD, an auto unloading facility, numerous industrial spurs, and commuter (MARC) rail.
Learn more about the prototype and why I chose to model it.
After many years without a permanent layout space, I bought a new basement (with a house over it) in 2009. The basement was finished and construction began in November, 2011.
A WORK IN PROGRESS
Although I designed a basement-filling railroad, I am realistic enough to know that progress will be slow as long as I have a family and day job.
The Annapolis Junction was planned, therefore, to be completed in stages, so that digestible chunks could be brought to a reasonable and satisfying state of completion.
After about three years, the first segment is in operation and it is possible to have fun switching and completing scenery as trackwork begins on the next phase. See more about the layout.
I have been a model railroader since I was 5 days old and received a Lionel train set from an overeager maternal grandfather.
For me the hobby has always been about the fun of building stuff. I can lose myself for hours pursuing one of the nearly infinite variety of tasks that is part of constructing a model railroad.
I particularly enjoy track planning, track laying, scenery, and operation.
Like many modelers, I'm a fan of the prototype railroad with which I grew up. In my day, that was the Chessie System – the merger of B&O, C&O, and WM that ran its disco-colored locomotives throughout the East 1973-1986.